The European Commission’s proposals to amend the Package Travel Directive will only have a limited effect on travel companies and their customers, according to the ANVR. The trade association is responding to the revision of the Package Travel and Passenger Rights Directive, which the European Commission announced on Wednesday. At the same time, the Commission is also missing a golden opportunity to strengthen the rights of travellers who have booked individual travel services, says the ANVR. “With the adjustments, the European Commission wants to tackle three problems,” says Frank Radstake of the ANVR. ‘First of all, the problems that arose during Covid-19 with quick refunds of package holidays that could not take place. Secondly, that in some Member States there is an insufficient level of protection against bankruptcy of tour operators. And thirdly, due to some unclear definitions in the directive, the translation into national legislation has not gone well everywhere.’ With the proposals, the Commission is trying to solve those problems, says Radstake.
“What they didn’t want to solve is the fact that a traveller who books a separate ticket has no guarantee of getting his money back if the airline goes bankrupt. On the one hand, this is a missed opportunity and, on the other hand, an extra reason for the customer to always book a package holiday.’ The European Commission is proposing to limit down payments for package holidays to 25% of the travel sum. An exception is made for that situation where the travel service provider (often the airline) requires a higher deposit at the time of booking. In that case, the consumer may be asked for a higher deposit. In TravMagazine last week , Radstake gave the example of when the tour operator has to pay for an expensive plane ticket immediately upon booking. In addition, the remaining payment may not be requested earlier than four weeks before departure, whereas now six weeks before departure is usually the norm. Radstake has also seen this part coming, according to his expectation from last week
. He then said, “That’s two weeks shorter. In some cases, this means that travel sellers will have to make new arrangements with suppliers. But we have 3.5 years to sort everything out, because the revised directive will not enter into force immediately. And besides, if they can handle it in Germany, then we should be able to do the same.’ In addition, the European Commission strengthens the right of the organiser to reimbursement by the travel service provider within 7 days (a B2B refund) if the travel service has not been provided. This should make it easier for the organiser to refund the customer within 14 days. For ANVR members and business partners, the ANVR will hold a special edition of ANVR Today next Friday (1 December) from 12.00-13.00 hours.
You can register via the agenda. (Photo: Shutterstock).
